Time and again Pittsburgh’s foundations step up to support organizations across a broad spectrum of focus areas, from arts and culture, education, and social services, to the environment, social justice and economic development. They help make life here better in so many ways.
As the term "foundation” implies, these organizations that were endowed by the fortunes created when Pittsburgh was the heart of the industrial revolution, have provided bedrock funding for initiatives spurring our region’s transition from the industrial age to the information age. They have given Pittsburgh a unique advantage when compared to other so-called Rust Belt cities, who have had a more difficult time making this transition.
Most recently, the Hillman Foundation committed $25 million through a multi-year grant to support Pitt’s efforts in vision restoration research and therapy. (Read more below.) As you probably know, UPMC is investing in the construction of a specialty hospital dedicated to vision next to Mercy Hospital that is slated to open next year.
The new hospital will support the work of Dr. José-Alain Sahel, the chair and Distinguished Professor of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Over the past decade Dr. Sahel has led pioneering efforts in optogenetic vision restoration, a technique in which cells in the retina are genetically modified to express light sensitive proteins. This therapeutic technique has the potential to help patients who are blind or visually impaired as a result of a genetic defect. Dr. Sahel is a co-inventor on more than 40 patents, several of which have led to start-up companies. We look forward to the creation of many more new companies from his work and are ready to support his efforts.
The Hillman gift is also providing support to LifeX Labs, the life science accelerator launched with the support of the University three years ago, to address a significant gap in the effort to build a thriving life sciences startup ecosystem in the region. LifeX was fortunate last year to also receive the support of the Richard King Mellon Foundation as it opened its life science accelerator wet lab space in Lawrenceville.
The benefits of the expanded range of service now available through LifeX is brought to life in this month’s featured Pitt startup, Duo Oncology. The company is taking on the most therapy-resistant cancers with a novel nanoparticle delivery mechanism. It participated in LifeX’s accelerator program and is now in the LifeX incubator, where it is completing its preclinical work as it progresses towards an Investigational New Drug (IND) application with the FDA.
Too often in the past, a company like Duo Oncology would find it easier to simply begin life in a region with a more established life science ecosystem, like Boston, San Francisco or Philadelphia. No more.
Our foundation community, together with our universities and health systems, are determined to accelerate the growth of the region’s life sciences sector, and we are grateful for their unyielding support.
